


You Can Dance

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Read My Lips [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 17:17:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6293074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: <i>any, any/any, shake it like a polaroid picture.</i> Rodney roams the halls and learns something about that mathematician he has a crush on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can Dance

Rodney was on his way back to his quarters when he sensed it, a strange rumbling through the floors. He paused, arms out to maintain his balance. But the city itself wasn't shaking. The floor was just...rumbling. Was there some kind of error in the city's plumbing system? If the desalination lines had become blocked again because someone hadn't cleaned out the filters –  
  
Rodney huffed and followed the sensation. He tracked it through several corridors (and might or might not have pressed his ear to the floor like he'd seen trackers do in cowboy movies) and as he got closer, he realized what he was hearing was...music. Heavy, heavy bass.  
  
And when he got even closer, he heard a man encouraging people to _shake it like a Polaroid picture_.  
  
Were some of the marines having a dance party down this deserted corridor? And if so, what the hell were they thinking, playing their music so damn loud that it could be heard several corridors away? Granted they weren't near any of the labs or living quarters where they'd be disturbing people, but how could they possibly hear their radios if they were needed? Because no one in Atlantis was ever fully off duty, not really.  
  
Rodney found the room where the music was emanating from and swiped his hand over the lock.  
  
The first person he saw was Lorne, sitting in the corner with a sketch pad on one knee, drawing, completely oblivious to the music.  
  
He was wearing noise-canceling headphones, but how could those cancel everything?  
  
And then Rodney saw John. He was barefoot in low-slung jeans and a flannel shirt he hadn't bothered to button, and he was dancing. In time with the music, properly on beat, which Rodney was able to register above the blood rushing in his ears and his heart pounding.  
  
Because damn, but John looked good. Rodney glimpsed the trail of hair leading from John's navel to somewhere beneath the waistband of his jeans, the way John's muscles shifted as he danced. And the way he moved his hips...  
  
No wonder the music was so loud. John couldn't hear it, but this loud, he could definitely feel it. Rodney had felt it.  
  
John was many things, but uninhibited wasn't one of them. He wore his charm like a cloak, his grin like a shield, and every insouciant toss of his head, quirk of his brow was calculated to set people at ease so they never noticed they were fully at arm's length.  
  
To see John like this, totally uncaring, was beautiful. Rare. Precious.  
  
Lorne in the corner seemed to be doing his very best to ignore John, give him privacy, but this was a military base, and not even John could be fully off duty, and Lorne was there to alert him to any calls that came over the radio.  
  
Rodney turned to duck out of the room before he was noticed, but then Lorne was on his feet, hands moving, and John stopped dancing, turned. He buttoned his shirt, tilted his head like he did when he was damn well _talking to Atlantis_ , and the music cut off.  
  
"What can I help you with, Dr. McKay?"  
  
"Nothing," Rodney said. "I heard a noise and was concerned that the desalination system had become clogged again. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude."  
  
"Didn't think anyone came out this far," John said through Evan, and it was almost second nature at this point, to look at John and hear Evan's voice. Rodney wondered if John had ever been able to hear, what his voice would sound like.  
  
"Most people don't," Rodney said. "Just me. When I'm thinking."  
  
John's grin didn't quite seem real, was unsettled. "I'll make sure I stay out of your way."  
  
"Oh, please don't. I was just being nosy. You – you should get to dance whenever you want. I just – I'm going, now. Good to see you, John. Lorne."  
  
Rodney fled.  
  
He never did see John dancing alone in the city again.  
  
After that amazing kiss on New Year's Eve, he started plotting ways to get John dancing in his room.


End file.
